,        dj?*t 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


GIKT 


Class 


0 


RELATIONS  OF  THE 

Elizabethan  Sonnet  Sequences 

TO 

Earlier  English  Verse 

ESPECIALLY  THAT  OP 

Chaucer 


THESIS 

Presented  to  the  Faculty  of  the  Department  of   Philosophy  of 

the  University  of  Pennsylvania  in  Partial  Fulfillment 

of  the  Requirements  for  the  Degree  of 

Doctor  of  Philosophy 


BY 
DANIEL  E.  OWEN 

1903 


PRESS  OF 

CHILTON  PRINTING  COMPANY 
PHILADELPHIA,   PA. 


ABBREVIATIONS. 


AM Amoretti,  Spenser. 

A  and  S  .    .   .  Astrophel  and  Stella,  Sidney. 

Au Aurora,  Alexander. 

C Coelia,  Percy. 

CA Caelica,  Greville. 

CE Caelia,  Browne. 

CL Chloris,  Smith. 

CY Cynthia,  Barnfield. 

Die Delia,  Daniel. 

Di Diana,  Constable. 

DL Diella,  Linch. 

E Emaricdulfe. 

EKA     ....  Ekatornpathia,  Watson. 
F  ......  Fidessa,  Griffin. 

ID Idea,  Drayton. 

L Laura,  Tofte. 

Li Licia,  Fletcher. 

PH Phillis,  Lodge. 

P.  P Parthenophil  and  Parthenope,  Barnes. 

SH Shakespeare. 

W.  P Wittes  Pilgrimage,  Davies. 

Z Zepheria. 


128013 


RELATIONS  OF  THE  ELIZABETHAN  SONNET-SEQUENCES 

TO  EARLIER  ENGLISH  VERSE,  ESPECIALLY 

THAT  OF  CHAUCER. 

Wyatt's  use  of  the  sonnet  in  English  is  commonly 
regarded  as  an  innovation.  So  far  as  form  is  concerned, 
this  view  is,  doubtless,  correct;  but  it  should  be  remem- 
bered (a)  that  Wyatt's  experiments  do  not  mark  the  first 
contact  of  English  with  continental  literature  and  (£) 
that  the  subject  matter  of  the  amatory  sonnet  was  not 
altogether  strange  to  English  readers.  For  French  and 
Italian  influence  we  must  go  back  at  least  to  the  time  ot 
Chaucer,  who,  indeed,  so  far  anticipated  Wyatt  as  to 
incorporate  a  translation  of  one  of  Petrarch's  sonnets1 
in  his  Troilus  and  Criseyde,  though  he  did  not  give  his 
version  the  sonnet  shape.  In  figure  and  allusion  the 
Elizabethan  sonnet  bears  a  resemblance,  often  striking,  to 
the  amatory  verse  current  in  Middle  English.  The 
Romaunt  of  the  Rose,  the  works  of  Chaucer,  Gower's 
Confessio  Amantis,  certain  poems  of  Lydgate  and  the 
numerous  Middle  English  "complaints"  and  lovers' 
dreams  abound  in,  so-called,  sonnet  conceits.  Chaucer's 
Emily 2  fairer  than  a  lily,  fresher  than  May,  with  her 
rose-like  cheeks,  yellow  hair  and  voice  like  that  of  an 
angel  is  the  prototype  of  the  sonnet  mistress.  In  a  certain 
"Compleynt"  5  the  forlorn  lover  describes  himself  "  as 
ashes  dead,  pale  of  hue,"  he  suffers  "an  inward  smart," 
his  "fire  is  hot  in  every  vein,"  the  image  of  his  lady  is 
printed  deep  in  his  heart  and  he  vows  to  serve  her  unend- 
ingly, even  though  "  her  heart  is  hard  like  stone."  Every 

1  In  Vita,  88.     T.  and  C.,  I,  400-420. 

2  Knights'  Tale,  1036  ff. 

3  Appended  to  Schick's  ed.  Temple  of  Glas,  E.  E.  T.  S. 

5 


6  ELIZABETHAN  SONNET-SEQUENCES 

one  of  these  figures  and  comparisons  may  be  duplicated  in 
the  sonnet  sequences. 

The  general  character  of  the  resemblances  between  the 
sonnets  and  Middle  English  verse  may  be  gathered  from 
the  following  list  of  representative  parallelisms  and 
analogues.  l  (I)  Descriptions  of  beauty,  in  the  sonnets, 
bear  a  general  resemblance  to  those  found  in  the  earlier 
poetry,  (a)  Thus  Gower  writes: 


He  seth  hire  face  of  such  colour, 
That  freisshere  is  than  eny  flour. 
He  seth  hire  front  is  large  and  plein 
Withoute  fronce  of  eny  grein. 
He  seth  hire  yhen  lich  an  hevene, 
He  seth  hire  nase  straught  and  evene, 
He  seth  hire  rode  upon  the  cheke, 
.    He  seth  hire  rede  lippes  eke.2 

In  much  the  same  vein  Thomas  Watson  describes  his 
mistress  in  the  Ekatompathia  : 

Harke  you  that  list  to  hear  what  saint  I  serve  : 
Her  yellow  locks  exceed  the  beaten  gold  ; 
Her  sparkling  eyes  in  heav'n  a  place  deserve  ; 

•x-  •&  *  *  •*  *  * 

Her  Eagle's  nose  is  straight  of  stately  frame  ; 
On  either  cheeke  a  rose  and  lily  lies, 

-X-  #  *  •*  #  *•  * 

Her  lips  more  red  than  any  coral  stone.3 

(£)  By  Lydgate  and  others,  the  hair  of  the  mistress  is 
frequently  compared  to  gold  wire.  Line  271  of  the  Temple 
of  G las  reads: 

Whos  sonnyssh  here,  brighter  than  gold  were. 

1  The  list  is  illustrative,  not  exhaustive. 

2  Conf.  Amantis  VI.  767  ff. 

3  Eka  7.  Probably  not  a  direct  borrowing,  though  it  looks  like  one 
See  Watson's  annotation  to  this  sonnet. 


ELIZABETHAN  SONNET-SEQUENCES  7 

The  same  figure  occurs  in  Reson  and  Sensuallyte  1. 
1576: 

Whos  here  as  eiiy  gold  wyre  shon.1 

The  comparison  is  not  uncommon  in  Elizabethan 
poetry  ;  thus,  Diella,  3  : 

Her  Hair  exceeds  gold  forced  in  finest  wire, 

and  Zepheria,  17: 

Whose  siluerie  canopie  gold  wier  fringes. 

It  is  one  of  t!*e  figures  satirized  by  Shakespeare  in  his 
Sonnet,  130 : 

If  hairs  be  wires,  black  wires  grow  on  her  head.2 

(c]  Similar  figures  are  used  in  describing  the  cheeks  of 
the  mistress. 

Temple  of  Glas,  276: 

That  Rose  and  lileis  togedir  were  so  meint. 3 

Licia,  34: 

Prom  those  sweet  lips,  where  rose  and  lilies  strive.4 

Phillis,  37: 

Of  rose  and  lilies  too,  the  colors  of  thy  face. 

II.  (a)  The  decay  of  beauty  is  not  so  hackneyed  a 
th ure  with  the  Chaucerian  school  as  with  the  sonneteers; 
but  it  comes  in  for  occasional  treatment. 

Trailus  and  Criseyde,  II.  393  ff. 

1  So,  also,  Troy-Book  in  many  places  (see  Schick's  note  to  T.  of  G. 
1.  271),  Chorl  and  Bird  59,  Roxburghe  Ballads  62  st.  5.    Used  by  Henry- 
son,  Lyndsay,  II awes. 

2  See,  also,  F  39,  P.P.  48,  De  35. 

3  Compare  Doctor's  Tale  32  ff,  Knight's  Tale  1036  ff. 

4  Compare  Di  I.  10,  A  and  S  100,  E  30. 


8  ELIZABETHAN  SONNET-SEQUENCES 

'  Thenk  ek  how  elde  wasteth  every  houre 

In  ech  of  you  a  party  of  beaute  ; 

And  therfor,  or  that  age  thee  devoure, 

Go  love,  for,  old,  ther  wil  no  wight  of  thee  ! 

Lat  this  proverbe  a  lore  unto  you  be  : 

Too  late  y-war  !  quod  Beaute,  whan  it  paste; 

And  Elde  daunteth  Daunger  at  the  laste  ! 

*  The  kinges  fool  is  wont  to  cryen  loude, 

Whan  that  him  think'th  a  womman  ber'th  her  hye, 

"  So  longe  mote  ye  live,  and  alle  proude, 

Til  crowes  feet  be  growe  under  your  ye, 

And  sende  you  thanne  a  mirour  in  to  prye, 

In  which  that  ye  may  see  your  face  amorwe  !  " 

I  bidde  wisshe  you  no  more  sorwe ! ' 

The  tone  of  ill-natured  protest  which  marks  this  speech 
is  characteristic  of  a  small  class  of  Elizabethan  sonnets  of 
which  Dray  ton's  8th  sonnet  to  Idea  may  be  taken  as  typical: 

There's  nothing  grieve  me,  but  that  Age  should  haste, 
That  in  my  days,  I  may  not  see  thee  old  ! 
That  where  those  two  clear  sparkling  Eyes  are  placed, 
Only  two  loopholes,  then  I  might  behold  ! 

That  lovely  arched  ivory-polished  Brow 
Defaced  with  wrinkles,  that  I  might  but  see  ! 
Thy  dainty  Hair,  so  curled  and  crisped  now, 
Like  grizzled  moss  upon  some  aged  tree  ! 

Thy  Cheek,  now  flush  with  roses,  sunk  and  lean  ! 
Thy  Lips,  with  age  as  any  wafer  thin  ! 
Thy  pearly  Teeth,  out  of  thy  head  so  clean, 
That  when  thou  feed'st,  thy  Nose  shall  touch  thy  Chin  ! 

These  lines  that  now  scornest,  which  should  dt  light  thee  ; 

Then  would  I  make  thee  read,  but  to  desp;te  thee  ! 

Similarly  in  Aurora,  102,  the  poet  declares  that  he  will 
think  himself  avenged  for  neglect, 

When  as  that  louely  tent  of  beautie  dies. l 

(b)  The  comparison  of  beauty  to  the  flower  that  soo:i 
fades  is  common  to  both  bodies  of  verse  under  discussion. 

1  Compare,  Reason  and  Sensuallyte,  6207  ff. 


ELIZABETHAN  SONNET-SEQUENCES  9 

Resoji  and  Sensually te,  6210  ff: 

That  beaute,  who  than  kan  espye, 

By  naturel  Incliuacion, 

Lasteth  fresh  but  a  sesou, 

No  mor'  than  doth  a  Rose  newe 

Which  with  a  storme  chaungeth  his  hewe, 

For  al  his  soote  levys  glade 

Ful  unwarly  yt  wil  fade. 

Delia,  36  : 

Look,  Delia,  how  w'esteem  the  half-blown  rose, 
The  image  of  thy  blush,  and  summer's  honour, 
Whilst  yet  her  tender  bud  doth  undisclose 
That  full  of  beauty  time  bestows  upon  her. 
No  sooner  spreads  her  glory  in  the  air, 
But  straight  her  wide-blown  pomp  comes  to  decline; 
She  then  is  scorned  that  late  adorned  the  fair ; 
So  fade  the  roses  of  those  cheeks  of  thine. l 

III.  The  conflict  of  heat  with  cold  by  which  the  sonnet 
lover  is  so  often  afflicted  was  experienced  by  Lydgate's 
Black  Knight:2 

With  hote  and  colde  my  acces  ys  so  meynt, 
That  now  I  shyuer  for  defaute  of  hete, 
And  hote  so  glede  now  sodenly  I  suete, 
Now  hote  as  fire,  now  colde  as  asshes  dede, 
Now  hote  for  colde,  now  colde  for  hote  ageyn, 
Now  colde  as  ise,  now  as  coles  rede. 

So,  Phillis,  18: 

I  burne  in  ice  and  quake  amidst  the  fire. 

IV.  The  laws  of  nature  shall  change  and   the  estab- 
lished order  be  overturned  before  the  lover  will  waver  in 
his  devotion. 

1  Compare    De  47,  Au   102,   Id   10,  Cl  26,  E   16,    P.P.    58,  59,   Ph 
Egloga  Prima  and  Ode  following  sonnet  39,  Sh  2,  12. 

2  Complaint  of  the  Black  Knight  229  ff.     See,  also,  Temple  of  Glas, 
356  ff,  Falls  of  Princes,  124  a,  L,auncelot,  30,  Cuckow  and  Nightingale, 
38  ff,  Confessio  Amantis,  III.,  s.  9,  Troilus  and  Criseyde,  I.,  420. 
Compare  sonnets  :  Au  4,  Cl  5,  Di  VI.,  2,  Dl  i,  F  8,  n,  Ph  35,  P.P.  31. 


10  ELIZABETHAN  SONNET-SEQUENCES 

Troihts  and  Criseyde,  III.,  1495  ff: 

That  erst  shall  Phebus  fallen  fro  his  spere, 
And  everich  egle  ben  the  dowves  fere, 
And  every  roche  out  of  his  place  sterte, 
Or  Troilus  out  of  Criseydes  herte  ! 

So,  Aurora,  58: 

First  shall  each  riuer  turn  vnto  the  spring, 
The  tallest  oke  stand  trembling  like  a  reed, 
Harts  in  the  aire,  whales  on  the  mountains  feed, 
And  foule  confusions  seaze  on  euery  thing  ; 
Before  that  I  begin  to  change  in  ought, 
Or  on  another  but  bestow  one  thought. J 

V.     The  darts  of  love  are  shot  from  the  mistress'  eyes. 

La  Belle  Dame  Sans  Mercy:2" 

Your  yeen  iiathe  sette  the  prynt  which  that  I  feele  withynne  myne 
herte. 

Temple  of  Glas,  582: 

For  with  the  stremes  of  her  eyen  clere 
I  am  Iwoundid  to  the  hert. 

Knigkfs  Tale,  1567: 

Ye  sleen  me  with  youre  eyen,  Emelye  ! 

This  figure  is  so  common  in  the  sonnets  that  quotation 
or  reference  are  scarcely  necessary.  It  is,  of  course,  vari- 
ously manipulated;  but  the  underlying  idea  is  always  the 
same  .3 

1  Compare  Dl  14,  35,  Eka  38,  F42,  44,  P.P.  29,  E  26. 

a  Political,  Religious  and  Love  Poems  from  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury's  Lambeth  Ms.  No.  306.  Ed.  Furnivall,  E.  E.  T.  S. 
London,  1866,  p.  52,  1.  525. 

3  See,  also  :  Knight's  Tale,  1096,  Troilus  and  Criseyde,  II.,  533  ff, 
III.,  1352  ff.  Troy-Book,  Aa  2b,  Temple  of  Glas,  104  ff,  230,  815. 
Compare  sonnets:  Am  7,  C  2,  Di  VI.,  9,  Dl  i,  36,  F  2,  48,  Id  2,  46, 
LI.,  ii,  36»  etc. 


ELIZABETHAN  SONNET-SEQUENCES  11 

VI.  The  lady  scorns  the  lover's  advances;  she  is  dis- 
dainful, obdurate  and  merciless;  her  heart  is  hard.     This 
is  the  conventional  attitude  of  the  mistress  in  amatory 
verse,   generally,  and  calls   for   no   special   remark.      In 
describing  the  disposition  of  the  mistress  and  in  comment- 
ing upon  it,  the    Elizabethan    sonneteers  use   the  same 
figures  as  the  Middle  English  writers: 

La  Belle  Dame  Sans  Mercy: 

0  marbil  herte,  and  yet  more  harde,  parde.1 

Complaint: 

Wherfore  doth  away  the  stel, 

1  mene  the  hardnesse  of  youre  herte.2 

Troilus  and  Criscydc,  I.,  524: 

Thy  lady  is  as  frost  in  winter  rnoone.3 

All  three  of  these  comparisons  occur  in  Licia  8: 

Hard  are  the  rocks,  the  marble,  and  the  steel, 
The  ancient  oak  with  wind  and  weather  tossed  ; 
But  you,  my  Love,  far  harder  do  I  feel 
Than  flint,  or  these,  or  is  the  winter's  frost.4 

VII.  The  lover  was  born  under  an  unlucky  star. 

KnighCs  Talc,  1087: 

Som  wikke  aspect  or  disposicioun 

Of  Saturne,  by  sum  constellacioun, 

Hath  yeven  us  this,  although  we  hadde  it  sworn  ; 

So  stood  the  hevene  whan  that  we  were  born.  6 

1  Furnivall  op.  cit.  p.  52,  1.  717. 

2  Appended  to  Temple  of  Glas,  E.  E.  T.  S.  146  ff, 

3  See,  also  :    Black  Knight,  442  ff,    Confessio  Amantis,  III.,  1514,     ffl 
Troilus  and  Criseyde,  III.,  no,  etc.,  etc. 

1  Compare  sonnets:    Am   18,  C  17,  Cl  n,  18,  De  n,  13,  Dl  8,  9.  n, 
F  7,  Id  45,  U  44,  W.P.  24,  2  7,  L  HI..  5- 
*  Compare  Petrarch,  in  Vita.  122,  (141). 


ELIZABETHAN  SONNET-SEQUENCES 


,  28: 


What  cruel  star,  or  fate,  had  dominion 
When  I  was  born  ? 

Diana,  VII.  ,  2  : 

What  influence  hath  bred  my  hateful  woe  ? 

VIII.  The  conventional  lover  is  lachrymose.  It  would 
be  superfluous  to  quote  passages  in  proof  of  this  assertion 
to  which  both  Middle  English  and  Elizabethan  literature 
bear  ample  witness.  It  is  interesting,  however,  to  note 
the  use  by  Chaucer,  and  by  the  sonneteers  after  him, 
of  the  distillation  figure  derived  from  alc^gmy. 

Troilus  and  Criseyde,  IV.,  519 

This  Troilus  in  teres  gan  distille, 
As  licour  out  of  alambic,  ful  faste. 

In  Phillis,  37,  Lodge  presents  us  with  this  figure  in 
more  detailed  and  elaborate  form: 

My  love  doth  serve  for  fire,  my  heart  the  furnace  is, 
The  aperries  of  my  sighs  augment  the  burning  flame, 
The  limbec  is  mine  eye  that  doth  distil  the  same; 
And  by  how  much  my  fire  is  violent  and  sly, 
By  so  much  doth  it  cause  the  waters  mount  on  high, 
That  shower  from  out  mine  eyes,  for  to  assuage  my  miss. 

So,  Idea,  7: 

Precious  Tears  distilling  from  mine  ey'n. 

Diella,  19: 

Salt  tears  distilling  from  my  dewy  eyes. 

Delia,  24  : 

These  tears,  which  heat  of  sacred  flame  distils. 

Fidessa,  30  : 

In  your  own  tears,  so  many  years  distilled. 


ELIZABETHAN  SONNET-SEQUENCES  13 

IX.  The  lover  is  pale;    he  is  incurably  diseased  ;  he 
wears  the  hue  of  death. 

Complaint,  27  :T  Q 

Lych  as  asshes  dede,  pale  of  hewe. 

Black  Knight,  221  ff: 

The  petouse  chere  pale  in  compleynyng, 
The  dedely  face  like  asshes  in  shynyng. 

So,  Laura,  II.,  18: 

I  bear  of  Death  itself,  the  lively  show, 
*  *  *  *  *  * 

The  fire,  close  burning  in  my  veins,  doth  make 
That  outward  ashes  in  my  face  you  view. 2 

X.  The  mistress  alone  is  able  to  cure  the  lover's  disease. 

Love  Poems?  p. ,  41 : 

My  paynes  to  Rellis  may  non  bute  yee. 

Ditto,  p.  52 : 

There  may  none  make  the  peas  but  only  ye 
Which  ar  the  cause  and  ground  of  alle  this  werre. 

Comfessio  Amantis,  III.,  1514. 

And  yit  is  sche  noght  merciable 

Which  mai  me  yive  lif  and  hele.  „ 

So,  Chloris,  11: 

— Winged  Love's  impartial  cruel  wound, 
Which  in  my  heart  is  ever  permanent, 
Until  my  CHLORIS  makes  me  whole  and  sound.4 

1  Op.  cit. 

2  See,  also :  Confessio  Amantis,  VIII.,  2217,    Black  Knight,  131  ff, 
Temple     of    Glas,    616.       Compare,    sonnets :     Au  65,  Cl    37,  Di   23, 
Li  34,  F  7,  16,  25,  Ph  6,  29. 

a  Furnivall,  op.  cit. 

4  Compare  :  De  14,  Di  V.,  3. 


14  ELIZABETHAN  SONNET-SEQUENCES 

Amoretti,  50: 

Then,  my  lyfes  Leach  !  doe  your  skill  reveale; 
And,  with  one  salve,  both  hart  and  body  heale. 

XL     The  lover  regrets  the  day  when  first  he  saw  his 
mistress. 

Love  Poems,1  p.  52,  1.  205: 

Unhappy  day 
Whanne  I  firste  hadde  a  sighte  of  your  visage. 

Coelia,  2  : 

O  happy  hour,  and  yet  unhappy  hour  ! 

When  first  by  chance  I  had  my  Goddess  viewed. 

Diana,  VI.,  8: 

Unhappy  day,  unhappy  month  and  season, 
When  first  proud  love,  my  joys  away  adjourning, 
Poured  into  mine  eye  to  her  eye  turning 
A  deadly  juice,  unto  my  green  thought's  reason. 

XII.     Praise  of  the  lady's  voice. 
Confessio  Amantis,  VI. ,  860  ff: 

the  wordes  of  hire  mouth: 

For  as  the  wyndes  of  the  South 

Ben  most  of  alle  debonaire, 

So  whan  her  list  to  speke  faire, 

The  vertu  of  hire  goodly  speche 

Is  verraily  myn  hertes  leche. 

And  if  it  so  befalle  among, 

That  sche  carole  upon  a  song,  ._  ^ 

Whan  I  it  hiere  I  am  so  fedd, 

That  I  am  fro  miself  so  ledd, 

As  thogh  I  were  in  paradis;        ' 

For  certes,  as  to  myn  avis, 

When  I  here  of  hir  vois  the  stevene, 

Me  thenkth  it  is  a  blisse  of  hevene. 2 

1  Furnivall,  op.  cit. 

2  Compare :    Knight's  Tale,    1055,   Troilus  and  Criseyde,  II.,  826, 
Dethe  of  Blaunche,  924  ff. 


ELIZABETHAN  SONNET-SEQUENCES  15 

The  sonnet- writers  frequently  write  in  praise  of  their 
mistresses'  voices  and  singing.  Watson,  for  example,  in 
his  Ekatompathia,  has  a  series  of  seven  sonnets  (11-17)  in 
which  is  "  couertly  set  forth,  how  pleasaunt  a  passion  the 
Author  one  day  enioyed,  when  by  chance  he  ouerharde  his 
mistris,  whilst  she  was  singing  priuately  by  her  selfe." 
In  one  of  these  sonnets  Watson  follows  Gower  in  compar- 
ing his  lady  to  a  bird. 

Ekatompathia,  16: 

My  gentle  birde,  which  sung  so  sweete  of  late, 
Is  not  like  those,  that  flie  about  by  kind, 
Her  feathers  are  of  golde,  shee  wantes  a  mate, 

And  knowing  wel  her  worth,  is  proud  of  mind; 

•*•*•*•#*#* 

And  who  so  mad,  as  woulde  not  with  his  will 
Leese  libertie  and  life  to  heare  her  sing, 
Whose  voice  excels  those  harmonies  that  fill 
Ellsian  fieldes,  where  growes  eternal  spring  ?' 

XIII.  The  mistress  scorns  her  lover's  verses. 

La  Belle  Dame  Sans  Mercy,  219  ff : 

I  suffre  peyne,  god  woot,  fulle  hoote  brennyng, 
to  cause  my  deth,  al  for  my  trewe  seruyce, 
and  I  see  well  ye  rechche  ther-of  no  thyng, 
ner  take  noon  hede  of  itt  in  uoo  kyns  wise  ; 
But  whanne  I  speke  aftir  my  beste  avise, 
ye  sett  it  nought,  but  make  ther-of  a  game; 
and  thow  I  sewe  soo  grete  an  enterprise, 
It  peyneth  uoughte  your  worship  nor  your  fame.2 

Coelia,  3: 

She  scorns  my  dole,  and  smileth  at  my  pain. 

XIV.  The  lover  is  restless  at  night  and  dreams  of  his 
mistress. 

1  Compare  Ivi  25,  30,  Ph  20,  A  and  S  100. 

2  Poems  from  Lambeth  Ms.,  306,  ed.  Furnivall,  p.  52  ff. 

3  Compare,  Dethe  of  Blaunche  1235,  Ph  23. 


16  ELIZABETHAN  SONNET-SEQUENCES 

Unto  my  Lady,  the  Flower  of  Womanhood  : ! 

Whan  Reste  And  slepe  y  shulde  haue  noxialle, 

As  Requereth  botlie  nature  and  kynde, 

than  trobled  are  my  wittes  alle, 

so  sodeynly  Renyth  in  my  mynde 

your  grete  bewte  !  me  thynketh  than  y  fynde 

you  as  gripyng  in  myn  armes  twey; 

Bute  whan  y  wake,  ye  Are  away. 

Astrophel  and  Stella,  38  : 

This  night,  while  sleepe  begins  with  heauy  wings 

To  hatch  mine  eyes,  and  that  vnbitted  thought 

Doth  fall  to  stray,  and  my  chiefe  powres  are  brought 

To  leaue  the  scepter  of  all  subiect  things; 

The  first  that  straight  my  fancie's  errour  brings 

Vnto  my  mind  is  Stella's  image,  wrought 

By  Loues  owne  selfe,  but  with  so  curious  drought 

That  she,  methinks,  not  onely  shines  but  sings. 

I  start,  looke,  hearke;  but  what  in  closde-vp  sence 

Was  held,  in  opend  sense  it  flies  away.2 

XV.  The  sonneteers  continue  the  use  of  mediaeval 
traditions  and  superstitions,  (a)  Thus  in  Chloris,  19, 
occur  these  lines  : 

She  like  the  scorpion,  gave  to  me  a  wound; 
And,  like  the  scorpion,  she  must  make  me  sound. 

Barnes  uses  the  same  figure  in  Parthenophil  and  Par- 
thenope,  39  : 

Then,  like  the  Scorpion,  did  She  deadly  sting  me; 
And  with  a  pleasing  poison  pierced  me  ! 
Which,  to  these  utmost  sobs  of  death,  did  bring  me, 
And,  through  my  soul's  faint  sinews,  searched  me. 
Yet  might  She  cure  me  with  the  Scorpion's  Oil. 

Fletcher  writes  in  Licia,  38  : 

You  gave  the  wound,  and  can  the  hurt  remove. 

1  Poems  from  Lambeth  Ms..  306,  ed.    Furnivall,   p.  43.      Compare 
Chaucer's  Compleynte  to  his  Lady,  i,  51. 

2  Compare,  Di  24,  E  8-u  incl.,  F  14,  Aa  Song  VI. 


ELIZABETHAN  SONNET-SEQUENCES  17 

The  superstition  is  a  very  old  one  and  appears  in  The 
Vision  of  Piers  Ploughman? 

For  of  alle  venymes 
Foulest  is  the  scorpion. 
May  no  medicyne  helpe 
The  place  ther  he  styngeth, 
Til  he  be  deed,  and  do  thereto. 
The  yvel  he  destruyeth, 
The  firste  verymouste 
Thorugh  venym  of  hymselve. 

Lodge  in  Phillis,  18,  gives  us  an  analogue  of  this  citation: 

As  when  two  raging  venoms  are  united, 
Which  of  themselves  dissevered  life  would  sever, 
The  sickly  wretch  of  sickness  is  acquited, 
Which  else  should  die,  or  pine  in  torments  ever. 

Still  another  version  of  the  notion  that  "  like  cures  like  M 
is  given  in  Barnfield's  Cynthia,  5  : 

It  is  reported  of  faire  Tlietis1  Sonne, 
(Achilles  famous  for  his  chiualry, 
His  noble  minde  and  magnanimity,) 

That  when  the  Troian  wars  were  new  begun, 

Whos'euer  was  deepe-wounded  with  his  speare, 
Could  never  be  recured  of  his  maime, 
Nor  euer  after  be  made  whole  againe; 

Except  with  that  speares  rust  he  holpen  were. 

(£)  Daniel  resorts  to  a  legend  of  witchcraft  and  is  imi- 
tated by  Constable.  The  passages  in  question  occurlin  the 
second  4  rejected  '  sonnet  appended  to  Daniel's  Delia  and 
in  Diana,  II.,  2: 

1  Vision  and  Creed  of  Piers  Ploughman,  Ed.  Wright,  p.  378,  11. 
12383,  ff. 

So,  Euphues,  p,  68,  "The  Scorpion  that  stung  thee  shall  heal 
thee";  and  p.  356,  "Those  that  are  stunge  with  the  Scorpion,  are 
healed  with  the  Scorpion.  " 


18  ELIZABETHAN  SONNET-SEQUENCES 

Delia  : 

The  sly  enchanter  when  to  work  his  will 

And  secret  wrong  on  some  forespoken  wight, 
Frames  wax  in  form  to  represent  aright 
The  poor  unwitting  wretch  he  means  to  kill, 
And  pricks  the  image  framed  by  magic's  skill, 
Whereby  to  vex  the  party  day  and  night. 

Diana  : 

For  witches,  which  some  murder  do  intend, 
Do  make  a  picture,  and  do  shoot  at  it; 
And  in  that  part  where  they  the  picture  hit, 
The  party's  self  doth  languish  to  his  end. 

This  bit  of  folk-lore  is  touched  upon  by  Chaucer  in  the 
Hous  of  Fame,  III. ,  169  ff: 

Ther  saw  I  pleyen  jogelours, 
Magiciens,  and  tregetours, 
And  phitonesses,  charmeresses, 
Olde  wycches,  sorceresses, 
That  use  exorsisaciouns, 
And  eek  thise  fumygaciouns; 
And  clerkes  eek,  which  conne  wel 
Al  this  magik  naturel, 
That  craftely  don  hir  ententes, 
To  make,  in  certeyn  ascendentes, 
Images,  lo,  through  swych  magik, 
To  make  a  man  ben  hool  or  syk. 

(c)    Greville's  Caelica,  103,  contains  the  interesting  line : 
And  as  hell-fires,  not  wanting  heat,  want  light. 

The  conception  of  colorless  flames  plays  a  part  in  de- 
scriptions of  hell  from  an  indefinitely  early  period. 
Possibly  of  Semitic  origin,  the  idea  occurs  in  Anglo-Saxon 
and  Middle  English  and  is  not  uncommon  in  Elizabethan 
literature.  It  is  found  twice  in  the  amatory  sonnet 
sequences,  once  in  Caelica,  as  just  noted,  and  again  in 
Diana,  VIII.,  5,  where  Constable  writes: 


ELIZABETHAN  SONNET-SEQUENCES  19 

But  to  my  heart  alone  my  heart  shall  tell 
How  unseen  flames  do  burn  it  day  and  night, 
Lest  flames  give  light,  light  bring  my  love  to  sight, 

And  my  love  prove  my  folly  to  excel. 

Wherefore  my  love  burns  like  the  fire  of  hell, 
Wherein  is  fire  and  yet  there  is  no  light. 

Shakespeare's  " delighted  spirit"  which,  has  given  the 
commentators  a  good  deal  of  unnecessary  trouble  may  be 
readily  explained  as  a  punning  allusion  to  this  tradition. 

Measure  for  Measure,  III.,  1,  118  ff: 

Ay,  but  to  die,  and  go  we  know  not  where; 
To  lie  in  cold  obstruction  and  to  rot; 
This  sensible  warm  motion  to  become 
A  kneaded  clod;  and  the  delighted  spirit 
To  bathe  in  fiery  floods,  or  to  reside 
In  thrilling  region  of  thick-ribbed  ice. 

It  appears  again  in  Milton's  description  of  hell: 
Paradise  Lost,  I.,  61  ff: 

A  dungeon  horrible,  on  all  sides  round, 

As  one  great  furnace  flamed;  yet  from  those  flames 

No  light;  but  rather  darkness  visible 

Served  only  to  discover  sights  of  woe. 

XVI.     Figures  based  upon  angling. 
Complcynte  of  Mars,  236  ff : 

Hit  semeth  he  hath  to  lovers  enmyte, 
And  lyk  a  fissher,  as  men  alday  may  se, 
Baiteth  his  angle-hook  with  some  plesaunce, 
Til  mon  ya  fish  is  wood,  til  that  he  be 
Sesed  ther-with;  and  then  at  erst  hath  he 
Al  his  desire,  and  ther-with  al  xnyschaunce; 
And  thogh  the  lyne  breke,  he  hath  penaunce, 
For  with  the  hook  he  wounded  is  so  sore 
That  he  his  wages  hath  for  ever-more. 

Fidessa,  50: 

When  I  the  hooks  of  pleasure  first  devoured, 
Which  undigested  threaten  now  to  choke  me. 


20  ELIZABETHAN  SONNET-SEQUENCES 

Caelica,  84: 

I  swallow  down  the  bait,  which  carries  down  my  death. J 

XVII.     Miscellaneous  figures  and  comparisons. 
(a)  In  the  curious  poem,  Bewte  will  Shewe,  thow  Horny  s 
be  Away?  women  are  compared  to  tigers. 

Line  37: 

But  archwyfes,  eger  in  ther  violence, 
Ferse  as  a  tigre  for  to  make  affray. 

The  figure  is  used  by  Petrarch  (in    Vita  101   and  else- 
where) and  is  common  in  the  Elizabethan  sonnets. 

Licia,  8 : 

Too  tiger-like,  you  swear  you  cannot  love. 

Cidessa,  59: 

Do  I  unto  a  cruel  tiger  play  ? 

Diella,  16: 

But  I  must  love  her,  Tigress  !s 

(Jj)  A  Compleynte  to  his  Lady,  Chaucer,  55  : 
/  My  hertes  lady,  and  hool  my  lyves  quene!4 

Emaricdulfe,  2: 

Deare  mistris  of  my  thoughts,  Queene  of  my  ioy. 

Licia,  3 : 

The  heavens  beheld  the  beauty  of  my  queen. 

(c)   Troilus  and  Criseyde,  I.  384: 

Remembering  him,  that  love  too  wide  y  blowe 
Yelt  bittre  fruit,  though  swete  seed  be  sowe. 

1  Compare,  Au  14,  103,  Di  V.,  2,  L  III.,  6. 

2  Poems  from  Lambeth  Ms.,  306,  ed.  Furnivall,  E.  E.  T.  S.  1866,  p.  45 
8  Compare,  A  and  S  65,  Am  20,  56,  Cl  16,  Dl  21. 

4  Compare,  Complaint,  136. 


ELIZABETHAN  SONNET-SEQUENCES  21 

Delia,  26: 

Yet  since  the  sweetest  root  yields  fruit  so  sour,1 
Her  praise  from  my  complaint  I  may  not  part. 

(// )  A  Comphynte  to  his  Lady,  Chaucer,  37 : 
I  can  but  love  hir  best,  my  swete  fo. 

Again,  line  59: 

My  dere  herte  and  best  beloved  fo.2 

Amoretti,  57: 

Sweet  warriour  !  when  shall  I  have  peace?3 

(e)  La  Belle  Dame  San-  Mercy,  257: 

Your  plesaunte  loke,  my  verray  loodsterre.4 

Amoretti,  34 : 

Yet  hope  I  well  that,  when  this  storme  is  past, 
My  Helice,  the  lodestar  of  my  life, 
Will  shine  again. 

(/)    Confcssio  Amantis,  II.  20,  ff : 

Ethna,  which  brenneth  yer  be  yere. 

Was  thanne  noght  so  hot  as  I, 

Of  thilke  Sor  which  prively 

Min  hertes  thoght  withinne  brenneth. 

So,  Chloris,  13. 

Augmenting  fuel  to  my  Etna's  fire. 

Phillis,  2: 

To  quench  the  flames  from  my  heart's  ^tna  streaming. 

1  Compare,  Am  26,  Au  79,  Sh  35. 

2  So,  also,  T.  and  C.  V.,  228. 

3  The  comparison  of  love  to  warfare  and  figures  based  upon  the 
conception  are  frequent  in  the  Elizabethan  sonnets  ;  for  example, 
Am  11,12,  14,  A  and  S  36,  C  10,   Dl  7,  Di  IV.,  2,  Id  63.     Compare, 
Lord  Yaux,  Tottels  Miscellany,  ed.  Arber,  p.   172,    "  When  Cupide 
scaled  first  the  fort.  "     See,  also,  Arber's  English  Garner  I.,  128,  460, 
651,  V.,  370. 

4  So,  Troilus  and  Criseyde  V.,  232. 


22  ELIZABETHAN  SONNET-SEQUENCES 


Love  Poems,  p.  45  1.  65  :l 

Moder  of  ihesu,  myrrour  of  chastitie. 
Common  appellation  of  the  Virgin  in  Middle  English. 

Coelia,  4  : 

O  heavenly  Coelia,  as  fair  as  virtuous  ! 
The  only  Mirror  of  true  Chastity. 

(h)  The  resemblance  between  Sidney's  famous  sonnet 
on  sleep  (Astrophel  and  Stella,  39)  and  Chaucer's  Dethe  of 
Blaunche  the  Duchesse,  11.  231  ff.,  is  worthy  of  remark 
though  Sidney's  immediate  source  was  not  Chaucer.2 

(i)  Another  interesting  and  suggestive  comparison 
may  be  made  between  Donne's  greeting  to  the  sun, 

Busy  old  fool,  unruly  sun, 
Why  dost  thou  thus, 
Through  windows  and  through  curtains  call  on  us  ? 

and  the  language  of  Troilus  in    Troilus  and   Criseyde  III, 
1450  ff., 

O  cruel  day,  accusour  of  the  joye,  etc. 

To  infer  from  resemblances  in  substance  that  the  son- 
neteers drew  chiefly,  or  even  largely,  from  earlier  native 
writers  would  be  illogical.  Passages  similar  to  those  quoted 
occur  in  Petrarch  and  the  poets  of  his  school.  A  large 
proportion  of  the  parallelisms,  moreover,  may  be  explained 
on  the  theory  of  common  sources.  In  the  glosses  to  his 
Ekatompathia,  Thomas  Watson,  the  first  sequence  writer, 
has  left  a  rather  complete  list  of  the  authors  upon  whom 
he  drew  for  ideas.  In  subject-matter,  Watson's  work  is 
typical  and  it  is  fair  to  assume  that  his  sources  are  repre- 
sentative. Comparing  the  authors  mentioned  in  Watson's 
annotations  with  those  known  to  have  been  used  by 
Chaucer,  we  find  many  names  in  common.  Chaucer's 

1  Furnivall,  op,  cit. 

a  For  other  sonnets   on  this  theme    see    Cl  34,  De   51,  F  15,   and 
A  and  S  32. 


ELIZABETHAN  SONNET-SEQUENCES  23 

favorite  author  was  Ovid  :  Ovid  was,  likewise,  a  main 
recourse  of  Watson.  Other  sources  utilized  by  both  poets 
are  Vergil,  Horace,  Seneca,  L,ucan,  Perottus  and  Petrarch. 
In  addition  to  the  ancient  classics,  Watson  derived  much 
from  French  and  Italian  writers  and  in  this  he  was  followed 
by  the  entire  group  of  Elizabethan  versifiers.  The  con- 
tinental sonneteers,  however,  were,  in  turn,  indebted  to 
the  classics,  so  that  their  imitation  is,  often,  merely  a 
borrowing,  at  second-hand,  from  the  sources  employed  by 
Chaucer.1 

The  resemblances  between  the  Elizabethan  lyric  and 
the  Middle  English  amatory  verse  are  capable  of  easy  ex- 
planation, but  the  reader  of  the  literature  of  the  two  per- 
iods will  hardly  consent  to  be  put  off  with  such  generalities 
as  those  just  adduced.  The  similarities  are  too  well  marked 
and  too  numerous  to  be  so  summarily  despatched.  Granted 
that  the  sonneteers  are  chiefly  indebted  to  the  classics 
and  to  continental  models,  it  may  still  be  true  that  the 
mass  of  earlier  native  verse  exerted  an  influence,  obscure, 
even  sub-conscious,  but  nevertheless  sufficient  to  tinge 
Elizabethan  composition.  Sufficient  evidence  exists  to 
render  the  theory  tenable.  Aside  from  parallelisms  and 
analogues  of  the  kind  already  quoted,  there  are  to  be  found 
in  Elizabethan  literature  abundant  survivals  from  the  ear- 
lier age.  The  Middle  English  u  Complaint,"  for  example, 
was  continued  quite  through  the  Elizabethan  period  and 
received  its  meed  of  attention  from  Shakespeare  himself. 
The  serious  tone,  approaching  theological  tenor,  character- 
istic of  the  first  miscellanies  may,  possibly,  be  traced  to  the 
religious  verse  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Now  and  then,  there 
turns  up  in  Elizabethan  poetry  a  piece  written  in  obser- 
vance of  some  long-established  custom,  such  as  the  sending 

1  A  certain  percentage   of  the  similarities  are,   doubtless,  to  be 
ascribed  to  identity  of  theme. 


24  ELIZABETHAN  SONNET-SEQUENCES 

of  New  Year's  verses.1  The  development  of  the  drama 
affords  ample  evidence  to  the  continuity  which  we  seek  to 
establish.  Not  only  is  the  history  of  the  English  drama, 
as  a  form,  the  story  of  an  evolution  from  mediaeval  liter- 
ature, but  also  an  analysis  of  the  sources  of  the  dramatists 
from  John  Hey  wood  on,  reveals  a  direct  and  unmistakable 
influence  of  Chaucer.  Most  of  the  dramatists  were  also 
lyrists.  Finally,  there  are  to  be  found,  in  the  sonnets 
themselves,  motives  characteristically  mediaeval.  Such 
are  the  device  of  a  visit  to  the  temple  of  Venus,2  allegory,3 
and  the  dream  motive.4  Constable  in  Diana,  6,  attributes 
to  his  eyes  the  seven  deadly  sins  treated  at  length  in 
Gower's  Confessio  Amantis. 

The  likelihood  of  a  native  influence  on  the  sonnets  gains 
a  further  increment  of  plausibility  when  the  popularity  of 
Chaucer  in  the  Elizabethan  age  is  considered.5  It  may 
safely  be  said  that  at  no  time  in  the  history  of  English  lit- 
erature have  the  merits  of  the  Chaucerian  School  been 
more  genuinely  appreciated  than  during  the  16th  century. 
Editions  of  Chaucer's  works  appeared  in  1526,  1532,  1542, 
circ.  1550,  1561,  1598  and  1602,  an  average  of  one  every  ten 
years.  Francis  Thynne's  text  of  the  Canterbury  Tales 
(1532)  remained  the  standard  for  two  hundred  and  fifty 
years.  Speght's  Chaucer  (1598)  called  forth  Thynne's 
Animaduersions*  an  essay  of  textual  criticism  which  sur- 

1  See,  Ancient  Critical   Essays   upon   English    Poets  and    Poesy, 
ed.  Haslewood,  London,  1815,  II.,  p.  266.     "A  New  Yeeres  Gift  to 
111  y  old  friend,  "  etc.     Compare,  FurnivalPs  Poems  from  Lambeth 
Ms.,  306,  E.   E.  T.  S.,    1866,   p.   38,    and   Herrick's  Hesperides,  319 
(Pollard's  Ed). 

2  C  13. 

3  A  and  S  18,  C  10,  Eka  2,  Dl  28,  Z  4,  5. 

4  Au  51,  Cl  13,  Dl  24,  F  14,  P.  P.,  El.  10,  Ode  2,  Can*.  2. 

5  Lounsbury,  Chap.  VII. 

6  Animaduersions    uppon   the     Annotacions     aijd    corrections    of 
some  imperfections  of  impressiones  of  Chaucer's  workes  [sett  downe 
before  tyme,  and  nowe]  reprinted  in  the  yere  of  oure   lorde    1598. 
Sett  downe  by  Francis  Thynne.  E.  E.  T.  S. 


ELIZABETHAN  SONNET-SEQUENCES  25 

prises  by  its  modern  tone  and  is  full  of  evidences  of  minute 
and  patient  study.  The  avidity  of  the  Elizabethan  appet- 
ite is  further  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  it  demanded  two 
editions  of  Gower,  one  in  1532  and  the  second  in  1554.1 
Thus  four  editions  of  Chaucer  and  two  editions  of  Gower 
appeared  prior  to  the  publication  of  Totters  Miscellany. 
The  works  of  these  authors,  therefore,  were  accessible  to 
the  sonneteers.  Lydgate's  Complaint  of  the  Black  Knight, 
published  in  Edinburgh  as  early  as  1508,  appeared  with 
Chaucer's  works  in  Thynne's  edition  of  1532.  The  Story 
of  Thebes  was  printed  repeatedly  between  1561  and  1587, 
the  Troy-Book  in  1555,  the  Falls  of  Princes  in  1554  and 
again  in  1558.2 

The  esteem  in  which  Chaucer  was  held  by  the  Eliza- 
bethans is  attested  by  the  frequent  mention  of  his  name, 
coupled  with  expressions  of  appreciation  and  respect,  by  the 
critical  writers  of  the  day.  Puttenham3  calls  him  u  the 
father  of  our  English  Poets  ";  to  Gascoigne4  he  is  uour 
father  Chaucer  "  ;  by  Webbe5  and  Meres6  he  is  deified  and 
made  "  the  god  of  English  poets."  Sidney7  laments  that 
( the  age  walks  so  stumblingly  after  him.'  Churchyard,  in 
his  doggerel  Praise  of  Poetrie*  refers  to  him  three  times. 
Daniel  in  Musophihis  mentions  Chaucer  as  one 

Unto  the  sacred  relics  of  whose  rime, 
We  yet  are  bound  in  zeal  to  offer  praise. 

Spenser  eulogizes   Chaucer   in  the   Shepherd }s   Calendar9 

1  Gower  was  not  printed  again  until  1857. 

2  Lydgate's  Complaint  of  the  Black  Knight,    Inaugural-Disserta- 
tion von  Emil  Krausser,  Halle,  1896. 

3  Arte  of  English  Poesie,  ed.  Arber,  p.   32. 

4  Certayne  Notes  of  Instruction,  ed.  Arber,  p.  34. 

*  Discourse  of  English  Poetrie,  ed.  Arber,  p.  32. 
6  Palladis  Tamia. 

I  Apologie  for  Poetrie,  ed.  Arber,  p.  62. 

*  Reprinted  in  Censura  Iviteraria,  vols.  III.  and  IV. 
0  June. 


26  ELIZABETHAN  SONNET-SEQUENCES 

under  the  name  of  Tityrus  and  declares  that  the  fame  of 
his  skill  in  verse  "doth  dayly  greater  grow."  Finally,  not 
to  prolong  the  list,  Drayton  extols  Chaucer  in  his  account 
of  the  English  poets  contained  in  an  Epistle  to  Henry 
Reynolds. 

So  much  praise,  by  men  most  of  whom  were  actively  en- 
gaged in  the  composition  of  poetry,  at  once  establishes  a 
presumption  in  favor  of  Chaucerian  influence  on  the 
Elizabethan  lyric.  It  is  a  law  of  human  nature  that 
admiration  begets  imitation  and  the  Elizabethan  age  was 
nothing  if  not  innocently  plagiaristic.  In  the  case  of 
Chaucer,  however,  we  must  expect  to  find  it  difficult  to 
establish  an  influence  by  the  cataloguing  of  parallel  excerpts 
for  two  reasons,  (a)  Even  in  the  16th  century,  Chaucer's 
language  was  archaic  and,  therefore,  not  susceptible  of 
direct  quotation.  Spenser,  to  be  sure,  borrowed  largely 
from  Chaucer's  vocabulary,  but  even  his  powerful  example 
failed  to  make  the  practice  popular.  Ben  Jonson  doubtless 
reflected  current  opinion  when  he  observed  that  "Spenser, 
in  affecting  the  ancients,  writ  no  language."1  Daniel,  at 
least,  was  no  friend  to  obsolete  diction,  for  in  sonnet  52 
of  Delia  he  exclaims : 

Let  others  sing  of  knights  and  paladins, 

In  aged  accents  and  untimely  words, 

Paint  shadows  in  imaginary  lines 

Which  well  the  reach  of  their  high  wits  records. 

Sidney,  another  sonneteer,  says  of  the  Shepherds  Calen- 
dar: "The  Sheapheards  Kalendar,  hath  much  Poetrie  in  his 
Eglogues;  indeede  worthy  the  reading  if  I  be  not  deceiued. 
That  same  framing  of  his  stile,  in  an  old  rustick  language, 
I  dare  not  alowe,  sith  neyther  Theocritus  in  Greek,  Virgill 
in  Latin,  nor  Sanazar  in  Italian,  did  affect  it."2 

(£)  The  Elizabethans  doubtless  were  put  to  less  trouble 
to  understand  Chaucer's  style  and  versification  than  the 


1  Jonson 's  Discoveries,  under  Praedpiendi  Modi. 

2  Apologie  for  Poetrie,  ed.  Arber,  p.  62. 


ELIZABETHAN  SONNET-SEQUENCES  27 

readers  of  any  subsequent  period ;  but  in  the  critical  essays 
of  the  day  may  be  observed  a  tendency  to  patronize 
Chaucer  and  to  treat  his  poetry  as  rude  and  unpolished. 
This  attitude  is  an  additional  obstacle  in  the  path  of  our 
inquiry  since  it  means  that  borrowings  from  Chaucer,  if 
any,  already  "  modernized  "  in  diction,  would  be  so  manip- 
ulated in  phraseology  and  construction  as  to  become  un- 
recognizable. Beyond  question  the  difficulty  exists,  though 
it  would  be  unfair  to  assume  that  all  Elizabethans  were 
ignorant  of  the  principles  on  which  Chaucer's  poetry  is  to 
be  judged.  Ascham's  criticism  of  Chaucer's  "barbarous 
and  rude  Ryming"1  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  typical  since 
Ascham  wrote  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  extreme  clas- 
sical school,  the  members  of  which,  never  anything  more 
than  a  mere  handful  of  misguided  enthusiasts,  wished  to 
foist  upon  English  a  system  of  quantitative  verse.  Sidney 
says  of  Chaucer  that  "  he  had  great  wants,"  but  he  adds 
that  "they  are  fitte  to  be  forgiven  in  so  reuerent  an- 
tiquity."2 Puttenham  writes :  '  *  The  Canterbury  Tales  were 
Chaucer s  owne  invention  as  I  suppose,  and  where  he 
sheweth  more  the  naturall  of  his  pleasant  wit,  then  in  any 
other  of  his  workes,  his  similtudes,  comparisons  and  all 
other  descriptions  are  such  as  can  not  be  amended.  His 
meetre  Heroicall  of  Troilus  and  Cresseid  is  very  graue  and 
stately,  keeping  the  stafFe  of  seuen,  and  the  verse  of  ten, 
his  other  verses  of  the  Canterbury  tales  be  but  riding  ryme, 
neuertheless  very  well  becomming  the  matter  of  that 
pleasaunt  pilgrimage  in  which  euery  mans  part  is  playd 
with  much  decency."3  Webbe:  "  Though  the  manner 
of  hys  stile  may  seem  blunte  and  course  to  many  fine 
English  eares  at  these  dayes,  yet  in  truth,  if  it  be  equally 
pondered,  and  with  good  iudgement  aduised,  and  con- 
firmed with  the  time  wherein  he  wrote,  a  man  shall  per- 

1  Ascham's  Scholemaster,  ed.  Arber,  p.  145. 

2  Apologie  for  Poetrie,  ed.  Arber,  p.  62. 

3  Arte  of  English  Poesie,  ed.  Arber,  p.  75. 


28  ELIZABETHAN  SONNET-SEQUENCES 

ceiue  thereby  euen  a  true  picture  or  perfect  shape  of  a 
right  Poet."1  Gascoigne  :  "Who  so  euer  do  peruse  and 
well  consider  his  workes,  he  shall  finde  that  although  his 
lines  are  not  always  of  one  selfe  same  number  of  Syllables, 
yet  beyng  redde  by  one  that  hath  vnderstanding,  the  long- 
est verse  and  that  which  hath  most  Syllables  in  it,  will  fall 
(to  the  eare)  correspondent  vnto  that  whiche  hath  fewest 
sillablesinit."2 

From  these  passages  it  appears  that  the  merits  of 
Chaucer's  verse  had  to  be  explained  in  Elizabethan  days 
much  as  they  are  now  and  that  the  difficulties  experienced 
by  a  sonnet  writer  in  utilizing  Chaucerian  sources  would 
be  [much  the  same  as  would  be  encountered  by  a  more 
modern  author. 

We  need  not  expect,  then,  to  find  in  the  sonnets  many 
passages  that  may  be  positively  identified  as  borrowings 
from  Chaucer  though  we  may  often  be  reminded  of  him  by 
the  coloring  of  the  verse;  but  when  Lodge  in  sonnet 
30  of  Phillis  writes  as  follows,  we  feel  certain  that  he 
had  in  mind  the  opening  lines  of  the  Prologue  to  the  Can- 
terbury Tales: 

I  do  compare  unto  thy  youthly  clear, 
Which  always  bides  within  thy  flow'ring  prime, 
The  month  of  April,  that  bedews  our  clime 
With  pleasant  flowers,  when  as  his  showers  appear. 

Before  thy  face  shall  fly  false  cruelty, 
Before  his  face  the  doly  season  fleets; 
Mild  been  his  looks,  thine  eyes  are  full  of  sweets; 
Firm  is  his  course,  firm  is  thy  loyalty, 

He  paints  the  fields  through  liquid  crystal  showers, 
Thou  paint'st  my  verse  with  Pallas'  learned  flowers; 
With  Zephirus*  sweet  breath  he  Jills  the  plains, 
And  thou  my  heart  with  weeping  sighs  that  wring; 

His  brows  are  dewed  with  morning's  crystal  spring, 

Thou  mak'st  my  eyes  with  tears  bemoan  my  pains. 

1  Discourse  of  English  Poetrie,  ed.  Arber,  p.  32. 

2  Certayne  Notes  of  Instruction  in  English  Verse,  ed.  Arber,  p.  34. 


ELIZABETHAN  SONNET-SKQUKNCES  29 

Again,  in  Troilus  and  Criseyde  V.  638  ff.  we  read  : 

0  sterre,  of  which  I  lost  have  al  the  light, 
With  herte  soor  wel  oughte  I  to  bewaile 
That  evere  derk  in  torment  night  by  night, 
Toward  my  deth  with  wind  in  stere  I  saile. 

The  figure  is  adapted  by  Spenser  in  Amorctti,  87  : 

Since  I  have  lackt  the  comfort  of  that  light, 
The  which  was  wont  to  lead  my  thoughts  astray; 

1  wander  as  in  darkenesse  of  the  night, 
Affrayd  of  every  dangers  least  dismay.  x 

Phillis  appeared  in  1593  and  the  Amoretti  in  1595.  Both 
were  composed  when  foreign  influence  had  fully  developed 
and  when  standards  of  style  had  been  modified  by  imit- 
ation of  continental  forms.  Naturally,  Chaucerian  influ- 
ence is  more  readily  to  be  detected  in  the  work  of  the  poets 
who  wrote  during  the  experimental  period  which  marked 
the  emergence  of  the  new  literature  from  the  old.  The 
early  school  of  "  courtly  makers  n  were  much  indebted  to 
their  English  predecessors  from  Chaucer  on.  The  extent 
of  the  obligation  in  the  case  of  Wyatt  and  Surrey  was  made 
known  long  ago  by  Nott,  in  his  monumental  edition  of  the 
two  poets.  It  is  needless  to  repeat  in  detail  the  results  of 
that  careful  study,  but  it  will  not  be  out  of  place  to  quote 
a  single  sonnet  by  Wyatt  as  an  illustration  in  point : 

Ye  that  in  loue  fiude  luck  and  swete  abundance, 

And  lyue  in  lust  of  ioyfull  iolitie, 

Aryse  for  shame,  do  way  your  sluggardy: 

Arise  I  say,  do  May  some  obseruance: 

Let  me  in  bed  lye,  dreamyng  of  mischance. 

Let  me  remember  my  missehappes  vnhappy, 

That  me  betide  in  May  most  commonly: 

As  one  whom  loue  list  little  to  aduance. 

Stephan  said  true,  that  my  natiuitie 

Mischanced  was  with  the  ruler  of  May. 

He  gest  (I  proue)  of  that  the  veritie. 

In  May  my  wealth,  and  eke  my  wittes,  I  say, 

Haue  stand  so  oft  in  such  perplexitie. 

loye:  let  me  dreame  of  your  felicitie.  2 

1  Compare,  Am  34,  A  and  S  89. 

2  Tottel's  Miscellany,    ed.  Arber,   p.  36.      See,  also,  Sir  Thomas 
Wyatt  and  his  Poems,  W.  K.  Simonds,  Boston  1889,  pp.  133-134. 


30  ELIZABETHAN  SONNET-SEQUENCES 

The  parallelisms  are  as  follows  : 
Troihis  and  Criseyde  II.  Ill : 

Do  wey  your  book;  ris  up,  and  let  us  daunce, 
And  let  us  don  to  May  som  observaunce. 

Troilus  and  Criseyde  I.  517  ; 

Now,  thanked  God,  he  may  go  in  the  daunce 
Of  hem  that  Love  list  feblely  t'avaunce  ! 

Hous  of  Fame  II.  131  : 

Although  thou  maist  go  in  the  daunce 
With  hem  that  him  list  not  avaunce. 

Black  Knight,  353 : 

And  for  al,  that  was  he  sete  behynde 

With  hem  that  Love  liste  fiebly  to  avauuce. 

Court  of  Love,  176  : 

For  ye  that  reigne  in  yovth  and  lustynesse. 
Complaint  imto  Pitie,  39  : 

And  fresshe  Beautee,  Lust  and  Jolitee. 

In  a  preceding  paragraph  we  have  quoted  a  passage  from 
WakSQ^sEkatompathta  which  bears  a  marked  resemblance 
to  certain  lines  in  Gower's  Confessio  A  mantis.  A  like 
similarity  exists  between  sonnet  29  of  the  Ekatom- 
pathia  and  the  opening  lines  of  the  Doctors  Tale. 

Doctor's  Tale,  7  ff : 

Fair  was  this  mayde  in  excellent  beautee 
Aboven  every  wight  that  man  may  see; 
For  Nature  hath  with  sovereyn  diligence 
Y-formed  hire  in  so  greet  excellence, 
As  though  she  wolde  seyn,    '  Lo,  I,  Nature, 
Thus  kan  I  forme,  and  peynte  a  creature, 
Whan  that  me  list, — who  kan  me  countrefete  ? 
Pigmalion  ?  Noght,  though  he  ay  forge  and  bete 
Or  grave,  or  peynte;  for  I  dar  wel  seyn 
Apelles,  Zanzis,  sholde  werche  in  veyn, 
Outher  to  grave,  or  peynte,  or  forge,  or  bete, 
If  they  presumed  me  to  conntrefete.' 


ELIZABETHAN  SONNET-SEQUENCES  31 

Watson  : 

Such  is  the  Saint,  whom  I  on  earth  adore, 

As  neuer  age  shall  know  when  this  is  past, 

Nor  euer  yet  hath  like  byn  scene  before  : 

Apelles  yf  he  liu'd  would  stand  agast 

With  coulours  to  set  downe  her  comely  fare, 
Who  farre  excells  though  Venus  were  in  place 

Praxiteles  might  likewise  stand  in  doute 

In  metall  to  expresse  her  forme  arighte, 

Whose  praise  for  shape  is  blowne  the  world  throughout. 

In  his  gloss  on  this  sonnet  Watson  mentions  no  author- 
ities. Whether  or  not  he  is  indebted  to  Chaucer  for  the 
idea  cannot  be  determined;  but  that  he  knew  "the  English 
Homer"  is  indicated  by  the  annotation  \x> Ekatoinpathia  5. 
This  sonnet  is  a  translation  of  Petrarch's  in  Vitv  88  already 
rendered  into  English  by  Chaucer  and  by  Wyatt.  Com- 
menting on  his  own  version  Watson  says:  uAnd  it  may 
be  noted,  that  the  Author  in  his  first  halfe  verse  of  this 
translation  varieth  from  that  sense,  which  Chaucer  vseth 
in  translating  the  selfe  same:  which  he  doth  vpon  no  other 
warrant  then  his  owne  simple  priuate  opinion,  which  yet 
he  will  not  greatly  stand  vpon."  This  brief  note  in  which 
the  authority  of  Chaucer  is  so  deferentially  called  in  ques- 
tion is  the  only  evidence  of  contact  that  the  sequence 
affords,  aside  from  inferences  based  upon  such  analogues 
as  those  quoted. 

In  summary,  we  find  that  the  Elizabethan  amatory  son- 
net sequences  resemble  Middle  English  verse,  especially 
that  of  Chaucer  and  his  school,  in  many  details  of  treat, 
ment  and  content.  The  similarity  may  be  explained  on 
various  theories;  but  in  view  of  the  popularity  of  Chaucer 
in  the  Elizabethan  age  and  the  admiration  for  his  powers 
expressed  by  the  Elizabethan  critical  writers,  we  are  inclined 
to  believe  that  the  resemblances  are  due,  in  part  at  least, 
to  imitation  of  his  work.  We  find  unmistakable  evidence 
of  Chaucerian  influence  in  the  sonnets  of  Wyatt,  Surrey, 
Lodge  and  Spenser,  and  strong  indications  in  that  of  Watson, 


32  ELIZABETHAN  SONNET-SEQUENCES 

That  we  do  not  find  more  is  not  remarkable,  since  Chaucer's 
diction  was  obsolete  even  in  Elizabethan  days  and  his  style 
often  regarded  rude  and  unpolished.  In  conclusion,  it  is 
to  be  noted  that  the  influence  of  Chaucer  upon  early  Eliza- 
bethan verse  was  well  recognized  by  contemporary  critics. 
Ascham  speaks  of  "some  that  make  Chaucer  in  English  and 
Petrarch  in  Italian,  their  Gods  in  verses."1  In  a  dedicatory 
epistle  to  The  preceptes  of  Warre  set  forth  by  James  the 
Erie  of  Purhlia,  and  translated  into  English  by  Peter 
Buthamffaz.  author  writes  :  "  I  take  them  best  English  men 
which  follow  Chaucer,  and  other  old  writers  in  which  study 
the  nobles  and  gentlemen  of  England  are  worthy  to  be 
praised."  Francis  Thynne,3  commenting  on  the  spurious 
Plowman's  Tale,  remarks  that  it  had  been  "  supposed,  but 
untrulye,  to  be  made  by  olde  Sir  Thomas  Wyat,  father  to 
hym  which  was  executed  in  the  firste  yere  of  Queue  Marye, 
and  not  by  Chaucer. n  Such  a  confusion  in  authorship  is 
significant  of  the  relations  between  the  two  poets. 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

Of 


1  Scholi-1  master  ed.  Arber  p.  146. 

2  1544,  Reprinted  in  Censura  Iviteraria  VII,   69  ff . 

3  Animaduersions,  p.  7. 


APPENDIX. 


A 

A  PARALLEL  BETWEEN  THE  BIBLE  AND 
GRIFFIN'S  FIDESSA. 

From  Solomon  to  Bartholomew  Griffin  is  a  far  call,  yet 
Griffin  in  his  sonnet  37  of  Fidessa  employs  the  language 
of  the  Song  of  Songs.  At  the  beginning  of  Chapter  VI.  of 
the  Biblical  idyll,  the  Hebrew  maiden  in  answer  to  the 
question,  u  Whither  is  thy  beloved  gone  ?  "  replies  :  "My 
beloved  is  gone  down  into  his  garden,  to  the  beds  of  spices, 
to  feed  in  the  gardens  and  to  gather  lilies.  I  am  my  be- 
loved's and  my  beloved  is  mine;  he  feedeth  among  the 
lilies."  Thus  the  Hebrew;  now  the  Elizabethan: 

Fair  is  my  love  that  feeds  among  the  lilies, 
The  lilies  growing  in  that  pleasant  garden 
Where  Cupid's  mount,  that  well  beloved  hill  is, 
And  where  the  little  god  himself  is  warden. 
See  where  my  love  sits  in  the  beds  of  spices, 
Beset  all  round  with  camphor,  myrrh  and  roses, 
And  interlaced  with  curious  devices 
Which  her  from  all  the  world  apart  incloses. 


B 

INFLUENCE  OF  KUPHEUS  ON  THE  SONNETS. 

In  Euphues1  we  read  that  "the  Dog  hauing  surfetted  to 
1  Euphues,  ed.  Arber,  p.  61. 

33 


34  ELIZABETHAN  SONNET- SEQUENCES 

procure  his  vomit  te,  eateth  grasse  and  findeth  remedy: 
the  Hart  being  perced  with  the  dart,  runneth  out  of  hand  to 
the  hearb  Dictanum  and  is  healed."  The  passage  appears 
somewhat  inelegant  for  sonnet  purposes,  yet  Chloris  19  is, 
in  part,  a  paraphrase  of  it : 

The  Hound  by  eating  grass  doth  find  relief  ; 
For,  being  sick  it  is  his  choicest  meat, 
The  wounded  Hart  doth  ease  his  pain  and  grief ; 
If  he,  the  herb  Dictamion  may  eat. 

•  Watson  mentions  this  magic  herb  in  Ekatompathia  68  ; 

If't  were  like  those,  wherewith  in  Ida  plaine 
The  Crcelan  hunter  woundes  the  chased  deere, 
I  could  with  Dictame  drawe  it  out  again, 
And  cure  me  so,  that  skarre  should  scarce  appeare. 

In  his  gloss  on  the  sonnet,  Watson  states  his  authority 
for  these  lines  to  be  Stephanus  Forcatidus  and  quotes  the 
Latin  verses  containing  the  above  figure. 


"-  TT 


RETURN  TO  the  circulation  desk  of  any 
University  of  California  Library 
or  to  the 

NORTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 
Bldg.  400,  Richmond  Field  Station 
University  of  California 
Richmond,  CA  94804-4698 

ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 
2-month  loans  may  be  renewed  by  calling 

(415)642-6233 
1-year  loans  may  be  recharged  by  bringing  books 

to  NRLF 
Renewals  and  recharges  may  be  made  4  days 

prior  to  due  date 


DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 


JAN  9   1988 


YC   17963 


I  2.8-0  \  3 


